Paradise City

July 16, 2012
Mayor’s solid 23rd Joe Gunther novel (after 2011’s Tag Man) focuses on a tri-cornered interstate case involving multiple thefts. One night on Boston’s exclusive Beacon Hill, three burglars break into the house of 89-year-old Wilhelmina “Billie” Hawthorn, who makes the fatal mistake of catching them in the act. Det. Jimmy McAuliffe gets the case and the unwelcome help of Billie’s 26-year-old granddaughter, Mina Carson. In Tucker Peak, Vt., a wealthy ski resort, burglary and arson get the attention of Vermont Bureau of Investigation chief Gunther and his crew. Clues in both investigations point to a buyer of stolen goods in Northampton, Mass., completing the jurisdictional triangle. Another thread follows illegal immigrant Li Anming, a skilled jewel smith who becomes a virtual slave in an unusual sweatshop. Stings, surveillance, and interrogations all play a part in the effort to uncover a sophisticated, ruthless criminal operation. Fans of this first-rate procedural series will be satisfied. Agent: Molly Friedrich.

September 15, 2012
Joe Gunther and his crack team of Vermont sleuths crack a case in Massachusetts. One ill-fated night, sweet, elderly Billie Hawthorn inadvertently interrupts a robbery in her Beacon Hill house and pays dearly for it. Violence aside, the Boston police wonder why the thief passed over some highly valuable targets of opportunity--laptops, flat screens, stereo equipment--to purloin the silverware instead. Meanwhile, Lt. Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team have been puzzling over a series of similarly offbeat break-ins. Suddenly, all crooked roads seem to be leading to Northampton, where a new superfence--mysterious, shrewd and deadly--has become a player. Invited to join a task force, Gunther takes his best cop with him: that astringent observer of the human condition, irascible Willy Kunkle, whose grasp of social skills continues to be marginal, mostly because he wants it that way. Specifically uninvited to join is Mina Carson, Billie's niece. Bereft, enraged by the gratuitous violence inflicted on her aunt and hungry for revenge, she crashes the party anyway, becoming for Gunther an entirely unexpected complication. Understated, occasionally very funny (see Kunkle) and very intelligent. In his 23rd appearance (Tag Man, 2011, etc.), the Sage of Brattleboro remains as appealing as ever.

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October 1, 2012

Vermont detective Joe Gunther crosses state lines when a string of robberies he's investigating ties in with a nasty murder in Boston. Once again, the long-running and best-selling police procedural series surprises and thrills (after last year's Tag Man). [See Prepub Alert, 7/2/12.]

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
Similar robberies, focused on antiques and jewelry, occur in both Vermont and Boston, and the Boston case becomes a homicide. Joe Gunther and his Vermont Bureau of Investigation team learn that a big-time fence for such items is operating in the charming, wealthy, slightly flaky college town of Northampton, Massachusetts. VBI, Boston PD, and Northampton PD join forces to bring down the fence, but they get more than they bargained for. The twenty-third book in this fine series offers all the elements that have captivated readers for more than two decades: solid police-procedural detail, a vivid sense of place, and wonderfully human interactions between Joe and the team he has nurtured from young beat cops to skilled investigators. In Paradise City, the focus is on Joe and the ever-irascible Willy Kunkel. Joe is still mourning the death of his lover, Lyn Silva; Willy's inner demons are damaging his relationship with fellow investigator Sammy Martens, the mother of his adored daughter. Mayor leaves things only partially resolved but resolved enough to expect that Joe, Willy, and Sammy will abide. Devoted fans, who no doubt abide their own losses, disappointments, and demons, will be heartened.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)